One Bad Cat
The Reverend Albert Wagner Story

Project Details

Narrated by Delroy Lindo, ONE BAD CATis the story of Reverend Albert Wagner and his continuous journey for self-redemption from his past exploits. Through the use of intimate verite scenes and candid interviews of Albert, his family members, and art patrons, the documentary explores whether a driving passion coupled with a divine intervention can really redeem a man with many past indiscretions. Further, the film explores Albert's past of growing up in a segregated south and how those experiences shape his often controversial messages and "lessons" on race and religion.

“A bowling ball's black kitty face busting out of a white bag: Does this beguilingly simple sculpture evoke transcendence—a message that the least among us can define his own destiny—or unconsciously expose a psyche-deep racial inferiority complex? In profiling the late African-American outsider artist Reverend Albert Wagner, who picked up a brush at age 50 and began to atone obsessively for past sins, filmmaker Thomas G. Miller answers "maybe" to both in this compellingly ambivalent portrait, which explores a taboo subject (racial divides in the viewing and collecting of art) with irresolvable complexity.” ~ By Jim Ridley, Village Voice

Narrated by Delroy Lindo, ONE BAD CATis the story of Reverend Albert Wagner and his continuous journey for self-redemption from his past exploits. Through the use of intimate verite scenes and candid interviews of Albert, his family members, and art patrons, the documentary explores whether a driving passion coupled with a divine intervention can really redeem a man with many past indiscretions. Further, the film explores Albert's past of growing up in a segregated south and how those experiences shape his often controversial messages and "lessons" on race and religion.

“A bowling ball's black kitty face busting out of a white bag: Does this beguilingly simple sculpture evoke transcendence—a message that the least among us can define his own destiny—or unconsciously expose a psyche-deep racial inferiority complex? In profiling the late African-American outsider artist Reverend Albert Wagner, who picked up a brush at age 50 and began to atone obsessively for past sins, filmmaker Thomas G. Miller answers "maybe" to both in this compellingly ambivalent portrait, which explores a taboo subject (racial divides in the viewing and collecting of art) with irresolvable complexity.” ~ By Jim Ridley, Village Voice